Multiversus is a clone of Nintendo’s Smash Bros., with a roster of stars from the Warner Bros. team. This title which will land on all the machines of the moment – except the Switch and the smartphone – does it look intriguing? Let’s see that right away please.
Finally, Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros are not the prerogative of star fights: Bayonetta against Cloud or Solid Snake, or even Terminator against Rambo or Robocop, fan service is in order. MultiVersus should be no exception to the rule with heroes from the following universes: Looney Thunes (Bugs Bunny, Taz, Tom, Jerry), DC COMICS (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn), Scooby-Doo (With Sammy and Velma ), Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and even Aria from Game of Thrones!
A rather delirious and explosive cast if there ever was one. Enough to attract the barge? Knowing that everything will be a Free 2 Play? Nothing is less sure !
Smash Burger
MultiVersus, with its name as simple as it is improbable, will offer 2vs2 fights in arenas worthy of Super Smash Bros, with very similar gameplay… To win, you will have to push your opponent out of the ring. And the more the tension gauge is filled, the further a player gets thrown when he is hit… A simple but very effective formula.
In terms of controls, movements are made with the stick, then we have a dodge, a jump and two attack buttons which are linked to the directions, and can be charged. The sensations in combat seem quite simple but effective, but we will have to do a bigger tour of the roster (15 characters in the preview, but only a few were available…) to give you a more complete opinion.
Multi-Coop
In any case, with the few pirouettes of cooperative gameplay available, with friends, the fun seems to be working. Indeed, we can use buff powers to improve his teammate, or save him from certain death or overconfidence.
The fights are played to the best of 7, as in the NBA, and a confrontation lasts about 5 minutes… Again, you will have to wait a bit for us to give you a more complete opinion on this gameplay, which should despite everything, we can say it without going too far, talking to the players of Smash Bros.
Free but complete?
After creating your Warner Bros account (essential to connect to the game) you will have access to a little more than local or online 2vs2 mode, with or without bots. In particular matches in 1vs1, or in “everyone for his skin at 4”. During the BETA, matchmaking worked perfectly and found us opponents & teammates in seconds, and the network stress test was convincing with our access to fiber: not a single slowdown.
In the main menu, you will also have access to many daily challenges (which will force you to log in every day…) as well as plethora of customization options, with almost more options than loot in Diablo. But also seasonal levels (which suggests the availability of a subscription that will eventually be available…) and an online store (we had gold, but the store was not accessible). If you have forced yourself to accept service game mechanics, this might be for you. This will probably not be the case for yours truly, but we must wait to know a little more before deciding definitively on this point…
But who is this game for?
Huge question! To the early fans of these licenses? To a more childish audience? Probably a bit of both. And this may be a problem of positioning: If an adult can invest in a F2P, will it really be the case for a child without financial support from his parents? And will a responsible adult let their child play a game that will likely have a PEGI 12, like the Smash Bros master? Nothing is less sure.
However, the design adopted for the game is of a style… Very childish, very cartoonish. The Looney Tunes, for example, do not change their drawings one iota. Of course mom or dad like it. However, the voices of the actors are those of media other than video games, and the design, in itself, is successful! It holds up and it’s very cute.
It is just a thousand miles from what one would expect from an F2P, normally not intended for children because not equipped with means of payment… With MultiVersus, Warner would count on the ignorance of certain parents letting their children choose everything what do they like to make his butter? By trying to seduce the greatest with Aria Stark? Not sure that all this works and finds its audience, which probably already has some quality brawlers in boxes on the shelves, even if this MultiVersus turned out to be of high quality…
Warner being the publisher of Mortal Kombat, one wonders why no character appears in the game. May be the wrong audience? Who knows.
We are waiting for it… Softly.
MultiVersus is a Free2Play game that comes to ride the wave of brawlers à la Super Smash Bros. Weak during the preview (in closed Alpha), the cast is made up of stars Looney Thunes, DC Comics, Game of Thrones, Adventure Time, Scoobidoo… A surprising mix! If on the gameplay side we haven’t seen anything to worry about, it should be fun with your friends, on the Free2play aspect we have some reservations. What will be its mechanics? Not sure that the game will succeed in finding its audience between adults who can be jaded by the too cartoonish side and children without money… We will know a little more with a complete version in a future TEST on Gameblog!